Rudolph m



No. 485,277. Patented Nov. 1, 1892.

rm: nonms PETERS 0o, monyumu. WASHINGTON, 0, cv

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUDOLPH M. HUNTER, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO EVA M. FLORENCE, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

CHAIR FOR THEATRICAL OR OTHER PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 485,277, dated November 1, 1892.

Application filed April 27, 1892. Serial No. 430,912. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RUDOLPH M. HUNTER, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of the city and county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Chairs for Theatrical or other Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to chairs for theatrical or other purposes; and it consists of certain improvements, which are fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

This specification (Case No. 220) is for a structure of chair especially adapted to theatrical purposes, but may be employed in asylums or other places where it is necessary to temporarily hold insane or obstreperous persons in subjection.

The object of my invention is to provide a chair which shall have one or more movable portions adapted to secure a person sitting or reclining upon a chair or article of furniture firmly to it when desired, and in practice the said means are so combined with the chair or article of furniture that the act of the person sitting or reclining upon it automatically puts the devices into operation to secure him firmly in position and lock the parts, so that it is impossible for him to liberate himself. The article of furniture shown herein is a chair, and is exceedingly Well adapted for theatrical purposes of the sensational kind; but. it is evident that its use may be extended to insane asylums or other places where it becomes necessary at times to hold in subjection dangerous persons. The construction is such that if a person is suddenly thrust in the chair when its parts are set for operation the act of sitting or reclining upon it will instantly liberate the mechanism and cause him to be clasped about the upper parts of the arms adjacent to the shoulders and over the limbs, so that no movement of the body would extricate him. Once these parts are thrown or moved they are automatically locked, and it is necessary for a second party to manipulate the mechanism before the person secured in the chair can be liberated.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved chair. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of same, and Fig. 3 is a perspective skeleton view showing the operative parts removed from the chair.

A is the chair proper, and may be of any suitable design and provided with any artistic style of feet.

B represents the arms of the chair,and may be formed in any manner.

0 O are two curved clam ping-arms adapted to clasp over the legs or knees of the persons sitting upon the chair and are secured to the ends of rock-shafts D, preferably secured through the arms B and the back of the chair. Springs J, acting upon cross-arms c at the ends of the shafts D, may be employed to cause the arms 0 to be suddenly thrown over upon the person upon the liberation of the cross-arms c.

In Fig. l the arms 0 are shown in dotted lines when thrown back, and the fulllines indicate the position of these arms when holding the person in the chair. When these clamping arms are thrown into the position shown, the arms 0 snap back of the pawls E, which may be pressed down by springs e, and thus lock them in such position and prevent their movement until the arms 0 are liberated from the said pawls E. The springs J may be of any strength desired to make the rapidity of movement greater or less.

F F are two pivot pawls secured to theback of the chair and preferably connected by aspring G. When the clamping-arms C are turned up to the dotted position shown in Fig. 1, the lower ends of the cross-arms c are caught upon the edges f of the pawls F and maintained in such position by the lock 2', which is thrust between the pawls.

II is a movable seat and is sustained upon springs 7L. lhis seat is provided with a downwardly-extendin g part H, which is pivoted to an arm I, hinged at one end to the chair and connecting at the other end with the lock 2'. It is evident that when the person sits upon the movable seat Hit is depressed. Thelock i is thrust downward, liberating the pawls F. The pawls F are drawn together by the spring G and the cross-arms c are liberated permitting the shaft D to rotate, so as to throw down the arm 0.

In Fig. 3 we have shown the pawlsF F and; lock in the lockingspositions to better illusprovided with cross-arms M and-also --wi-th springs L, which are adapted to normally throw the clamps K into position to grasp the shoulders or upper parts of the arms of" the occupant of the seat, as shown in Fig. 2. When these clamps K are turned back, one. end of each of the cross-arms M is caught by the pawls N and is held there by the pawls F, the extensions G of which" prevent the pawls N being thrust back by the action of the springs L. The instant, however,.the lock '6 is drawn down the action ofthe springs L is sufficient to cause the cross-arms M'to fly out of connection with the pawls N and each to make a slight. revolution, bringing the other end of the arms 'M into a locking. position.

with the pawls N, as shown in Fig. 3, thereby locking the clamps K upon the person.

vSprings n may be employed to normally hold the locking-pawls N in position. Each ofthe clamps K is operated in the same manner. It will thus be seen that all of the mechanism for holding. the person-in the chair is .controlled automatically from the same part, so that it is simply necessary to thrust the. .pe-r-.

son into the chair to instantly bring thepart-s I into-operation to secure him.

his quite evident that the various details may be greatly modified and yet accomplish precisely the same general results, and-it is also evident that the. particular means .em: ployed for holding the person .inthe chair-or article of furniture may be greatly modified without departing from the principleof my in-.

vention, which,-broadly construed, embodies; I suitable automatic mechanism for "looking apersonin position in a chair or art-icleoffu'rr. niture, preferably through the weight or. movement of the person in *the .act of sitting down or reclining upon the chairorarticle of furniture. improvement is especially illustrated in connection with a chair the configuration of .the :article offurniture may begreatly varied, so as to make the chair resemble. :otherarticles of furniture-such, for instance,-as:a lo.unge.-

In all cases, however, the general principle.

of securingthe-person in .position upon the .article of furniture'by themovement or.

weight of the person. himself bymeans of movablepartswould be the same.

Broadly considered, my invention compres hends any suitable fixedor practically-stationary frame provided with the movable clamping devices,substantially asherein set out, whereby the person is clamped or held to the frame. The-frame may have any con figurationdesired. Therefore when I-use the words article offurniture in the claims it isusedwith theabove understanding. I therefore do not limit myself to the details of I It is also evident that while my construction herein set out, as the same may be greatly modified without: departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an-ar-ticle of furniture for theatrical or other purposes, the combination of the stationary frame of an article of furniture provided with one or more movable clamping parts secured thereto and operating'in connection with the stationary frame to clasp the person, a lock to hold the movable or clamping part out of clamping position, and

g a movable portion controlled by the person sitting or reclining on the article of furniture to operate the lock to liberate the clamping or movable port-ion andpermit it to clasp the person to the frame of the article of furniture.

2., In an article of furniture for theatrical or other purposes, the combination of the article of furniture with-one or more movable or clamping parts secured thereto, a lock to hold the movable or clamping part out, of clampingposition, a movable portion controlled bythe person sitting or reclining on the chair or article of furniture to operate the locktto liberate the clamping or movable portion, and a lock to lock the movable or.

clamping portion in its clamping-position.

3. The combination rof an article of vfurnis ture adapted to receive a person, a movable clampingpart movably connected to the said article'offurniture and adapted to clamp the person therein, a movable partoperated by the person to automatically cause the clamping part to be broughtinto clamping position,

and anrautomatic lock to lock the movable orv article of furniture and adaptedto clamp the I person therein a spring to move the said:

movable part into clamping position, a dock to hold the movable part outof-cla-mping ,position againstthe action of the spring-a movable part. operated by the person to automatie.

cally cause the. lock .to be liberatedand 1 per mit the clamping .part -to bebrought into clamping position, and an automatic lock to locka-the movable or vclampingrpar-t rin=its clamped position.

I 5.The combination of an article. of fu'rni-:

ture-adapted to receive a person, :a movable clamping vpart movably connected-to the said article of furniture andadapted to clamp the person therein, a spring to movethesaid movable. part into clamping position, avlock 7 n to hold the movable-part outof clamping rposition against the action of the sp-ring, and.a

movablepart operatedby the person to automatically causethe lock to be liberated andpermitthe clampinglpartto be broughtinto clamping position,

6. The combination of an article of furniture with one or more independently-movable clamping parts, springs to move said clamping parts into clamping position toward the frame of the article of furniture to clasp the person, a lock to hold said clamping parts out of clamping position with the frame, and a movable portion of the article of furniture, adapted to be operated by the person in sitting or reclining upon it to liberate the lock.

7. The combination of an article of furniture with one or more movable clamping parts, springs to move said clamping parts into clamping position, a lock to hold said clamping parts out of clamping position, a movable portion of the article of furniture, adapted to be operated by the person in sitting or reclining upon it to liberate the lock, and an automatic lock to lock the movable clamping part in its clamped position.

8. The combination of an article of furniture With two movable clamps adapted to move over the seat portion to clamp the limbs of the person sitting or reclining on the article of furniture, a lock to hold the clamping parts out of clamping position, a movable portion of the article of furniture to operate the said lock to liberate the clamping parts and permit them to come into clamping position, and locking devices to lock the clamping parts in their clamping positions.

9. The combination of a chair with movable clamping parts arranged adjacent to the seat portion and also to the upper part of the back portion, a lock device to cause the said clamping parts to be held out of clamping position, and amovable part of the chair, adapted to be operated by the person occupying it to liberate the said lock and permit the clamping parts to move into clamping position.

10. The combination of a chair with movable clamping parts arranged adjacent to the seat portion and also to the upper part of the back portion, a lock device to cause the said clamping parts to be held out of clamping po sition, a movable part of the chair, adapted to be operated by the person occupying it to liberate the said lock and permit the clamping parts to move into clamping position, and locking mechanism for locking the several clamping parts in their clamping positions.

11. In an article of furniture for theatrical or other purposes, the combination of the frame of the article of furniture, adapted to receive a person, with an automatic movable clamping part movably connected with the frame of the article of furniture and arranged to automatically clasp a portion of the person to the frame of the article of furniture when the person sits or rests upon it.

12. In an article of furniture for theatrical or other purposes, the combination of the frame of the article of furniture, adapted to receive a person, with an automatic movable clamping part movably connected with the frame of the article of furniture and arranged to automatically clasp a portion of the person to the frame of the article of furniture when the person sits or rests upon it, and a lock to lock said clamping part in its clamping position. a

'13. In an article of furniture for theatrical or other purposes, the combination of the frame of the article of furniture with one or more movable or clamping parts secured thereto and adapted to move to or from the frame to clasp a person thereto and a lock to hold the movable or clamping parts out of clamping'position, but adapted to liberate them and permit them to clamp a person to the chair.

In testimony of Which invention I have hereunto set my hand.

R. M. HUNTER.

Witnesses:

ERNEST HOWARD HUNTER, S. T. YERKES. 

